Campaign fact check: Did God vanish from our coins?

Sep. 18, 2012

Written by

JEFFREY BRUNER

Gannett

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Answer: A viral email addressing this topic was debunked a few years ago, but Mitt Romney brought up the subject recently when he pledged, “I will not take ‘God’ off of our coins and I will not take God out of my heart.”

Congress approved a series of presidential dollar coins in 2005. The law stated that “E Pluribus Unum” and “In God We Trust” be inscribed on the edge of the coins. And that’s what the U.S. Mint did, with the exception of a small percentage that mistakenly did not receive the engraving. (These coins, like all those with errors, are quite valuable now.)

The edge engraving upset some people and Congress passed a new law in 2007 requiring that “In God We Trust” be on either the front or back of the coin. The coins minted between 2009 and 2011 included the changes.

(Jeffrey Bruner is the wire chief for the Gannett National Wire Desk in Des Moines.)